Former Royal Marine Alexander Blackman has issued a special message to his supporters as he celebrates his first Christmas at home following his release from prison.

In a message to the Herald, Sgt Blackman, who was jailed for killing a wounded Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, and his wife Claire said they would be raising a glass to all those who have stood by them.

The couple said: "We are really looking forward to spending this Christmas together.

"It will be a very special day and we will be raising a glass to everyone who stood beside us through the past four years.

"Without your support we might be spending another Christmas apart, so we cannot thank you enough."

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The Blackmans said they would be raising a glass to all their supporters this Christmas

Having served in some of the most brutal and dangerous parts of the world, Sergeant Alexander Blackman was no stranger to the battlefield.

But little did he know that when police came knocking on the door of his home in 2012, the former Royal Marine was about to begin the toughest battle of his life.

In the years that followed, Blackman, who served with Plymouth-based 42 Commando, and his devoted wife Claire fought for freedom, and for justice.

Backed by an army of dedicated supporters from around the world, they won that fight when the 42-year-old, formerly known as Marine A, was released from prison in April of this year, after his conviction for murdering a wounded Taliban fighter in Afghanistan was downgraded to manslaughter.

Today, after a year the Blackmans will never forget, he will spend his first Christmas as a free man - just days after the couple celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary.

Al Blackman spent three and a half years in prison

Freedom at last

After his successful appeal, the former commando left Erlestoke Priso in the early hours on April 28 and was whisked away in an unmarked police car.

Speaking of his new-found freedom at the time, he said: "It's hard to explain how really good it is, just the freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want."

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He added: "You feel like going outside for five minutes, you can, you feel like going outside for the whole day, you can.

"It's a really good feeling."

Claire Blackman outside the Royal Courts of Justice (Image: PA)

Mrs Blackman, who campaigned tirelessly on behalf of her husband, said it was "wonderful" to have her husband home.

She said: "It's really here, we really did it and I did often wonder if it would ever come but it took a long time to sink in.

"I didn't quite believe it but now he's home it's wonderful."

Sergeant Blackman said he shot the Taliban fighter in a “moment of madness”.

"I still don't know exactly why I did it," he said.

"A moment of madness is the best description I can give, it's not exactly the proudest moment of my life.

"I haven't got a definitive answer."

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His wife Claire, who successfully ran a high-profile campaign to appeal his initial murder conviction, added: "It's not for me to judge, I have no concept of just how incredibly stressful it must have been out there.

"I feel personally, fairly certain, that if he had a time machine and could go back and do things differently, he absolutely would but we don't have access to such things.

"What he's done he's done and we've had the chance to move on and we're looking forward to doing that."

During the initial court martial, and his appeal, which was heard at the Royal Courts of Justice in London in February, clips from another Royal Marine's helmet cam were shown to the court.

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They showed the moment Blackman, who served with Plymouth-based 42 Commando, shot the bloodied man in the chest with his pistol.

"The trouble we found with that is that it's a five minute section of an incident that took well over an hour, and to be fair you can put quite a few different spins on what's said and, unless you were actually there, you don't know the full story," Blackman said.

"Obviously, I told my version of events when I was at trial along with the other guys that were there.

"I'm content that what I told was my belief at the time, if other people have other views, they are entitled to do that."

Al Blackman's supporters took part in rallies calling for his release

Blackman was originally sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of ten years, later reduced to eight, after he was convicted of murder.

But his sentence was reduced to seven years after the Court Martial Appeal Court substituted the verdict for diminished responsibility manslaughter, following the presentation of new evidence regarding Blackman's mental health at the time of the killing.

The panel of five judges ruled that he was suffering from an "abnormality of mental functioning" at the time of the incident.

Time Line

Marine A: The full story

April 2011 - Deployed

Sgt Blackman is sent to Helmand province with 42 Commando as part of Op Herrick XIV. His unit is sent to Nad-e Ali, where there is heavy fighting.

September 15, 2011 - The killing

The Taliban attack a small British base. The attack is fought off with the help of a British Apache helicopter gunship and Sgt Blackman and his marines are sent to look for the attackers. They find one, lying seriously injured in a field.

Sgt Blackman shoots him in the chest with his pistol, the action captured on helmet camera by one of the patrol.

September 2012 - The discovery

The video of the incident is found on a Royal Marine's laptop during an investigation by police into another alleged crime. A police investigation begins.

11 October 2012 - The arrests

Seven Royal Marines are arrested on suspicion of murder

23 October 2013 - The trial

Sgt Blackman and two others go on trial accused of murder. He is only identified as 'Marine A' and his comrades as Marines B and C. They give evidence from behind screens. All three plead not guilty.

8 November 2013 - The verdict

Sgt Blackman is found guilty of murder. Marines B and C, who were alleged to have been "party to the killing" and "encouraged and assisted" Blackman were cleared. Stills from the video footage are released to the media.

He was ''dismissed with disgrace" from the Royal Marines.

5 December 2013 - Anonymity lifted

A court rules Sgt Blackman, still only known to the world as Marine A, should be stripped of his anonymity.

6 December 2013 - Sentencing

Sgt Blackman is given a life sentence and told he must serve a minimum of 10 years in a civilian prison.

22 May 2014 - The appeal

Sgt Blackman loses a Court of Appeal bid to overturn his life sentence. His minimum term is cut from 10 years to eight after a court heard evidence he was suffering from combat stress.

September 2015 - The campaign begins

A high-profile campaign begins to have Sgt Blackman freed, led by his wife Claire. It quickly gains support from author Frederick Forsyth and national newspapers.

16 Dec 2015 - More evidence

1,100 pages of new evidence to be handed into the Criminal Cases Review Commission in an attempt to have the conviction sent back to the Appeal Court

December 2016 - Appeal granted - and the bail hearing

A Royal Navy review finds that a number of warning signs which showed Marine A's unit were suffering from mental and physical exhaustion were missed by senior officers in Afghanistan.

The CCRC concludes there is a "real possibility" of overturning Blackman's conviction, and grants an appeal.

Later the same month, the Lord Chief Justice refuses a bid to grant the former sergeant bail, after prosecutors challenge new psychiatric evidence about his mental state at the time of the killing.

December 26 2016 - Appeal date set

An appeal hearing is set to take place between February 7-9, expected to last two days. It will take place at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

January 10, 2017 - Judge criticised

A leaked report shows that Judge Advocate General Jeff Blackett, the country's most senior military judge, has been criticised by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) for failing to offer a military jury the chance to convict Sergeant Alexander Blackman of manslaughter.The CCRC also criticises Blackman's original legal team for "deficiencies in the standard of defence" during his 2013 court martial and that it failed to ask the judge to give the jury the option of convicting him of manslaughter.

The review concluded he faces the "real possibility" of having his conviction quashed following the presentation of new evidence and his case has been referred to the Courts Martial Appeal Court.

January 3, 2017 - Judges refuse to release video of killing

Judges ruled that video showing some of the build-up to when a Royal Marine shot dead a wounded Taliban insurgent will be released.

But they refused to release footage of the actual killing.

The ruling, made by three of the UK's most senior judges, came after several national newspapers and broadcasters argued footage of the moment Sergeant Alexander Blackman shot the Afghan prisoner should be made public to help the media fully report his appeal hearing.

February 7 and 8, 2017 - Appeal heard in London

The appeal hearing was heard at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Five of the country's top judges heard from evidence three independent psychiatrists that Blackman was suffering from a physiological condition - and adjustment disorder - at the time of the killing.

His legal team argued the disorder significantly affected his judgement at the time.

The Crown said the issue to consider was whether the disorder caused him to kill the Afghan prisoner.

March 15, 2017 - murder conviction quashed

Judges overturn murder conviction and substitute verdict for manslaughter on the grounds on diminished responsibility.

March 24, 2017 - Sentencing adjourned

Sentencing hearing adjourned following calls for Blackman's 'dismissal with disgrace' from the Royal Marines to be overturned.

March 28, 2017 - Re-sentencing hearing

Blackman was re-sentenced to seven years in prison, after his conviction was downgraded from murder to manslaughter.

April 28, 2017 - Blackman released

The former Plymouth commando, who spent more than three years in jail for killing the insurgent in 2011, left Erlestoke Prison just before 12.20am on April 28.

Blackman hid from cameras as he was driven away from the prison near Devizes, Wiltshire, in the back of a dark Audi estate.

The chance discovery that led to four years of hell for Sgt Alexander Blackman

When videos showing the moment Sergeant Alexander Blackman shot a wounded Taliban fighter in Afghanistan surfaced, his fate was sealed.

The helmet cam had captured a barely-conscious bloodied insurgent being dragged across a field.

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Blackman shot him at close range, then quoted that harrowing line from Hamlet; "There you are. Shuffle off this mortal coil, you c***.

"It's nothing you wouldn't do to us."

It was hard evidence, which the prosecution argued, captured a cold-blooded execution.

Still from helmet cam that captured the killing

The board at his initial trial agreed and those clips cost Blackman his military career and his freedom.

What happened on that fateful day – a day that would later put the morals and rules of modern day warfare under the international spotlight - very nearly stayed among Blackman and his men.

It was a year after the killing when police, who were investigating another Royal Marine in connection with an entirely unrelated matter, uncovered one clip captured on the helmet cam of one of Blackman's colleagues on the morning of September 15, 2011.

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The video, buried on the marine's laptop, ended with the Taliban fighter laying wounded in a field and the Marines discussing what they would do with him.

At that time, the officers did not know the fate of the Afghan and they launched a separate investigation.

Subsequently, seven Plymouth-based Marines were initially arrested by the Royal Military Police.

The panel of judges at Sgt Blackman's appeal hearing

Blackman, formerly known as Marine A, was arrested at his home address on October 11, 2012.

He told investigators that he and his comrades had been on a routine patrol when they were re-tasked to find someone, believed to be an insurgent, who had been shot by an Apache helicopter.

He said he took the decision to move the casualty because they were in an "exposed position" and when asked what about the discussions recorded on the film, he added: "there was some banter about topping him but that did not happen".

The following day, Marine B was interviewed.

He told investigators the man "died of natural causes", adding: "He was barely alive, we found loads of blokes like this and always patched them up".

When asked if anyone shot the man, he replied "no comment".

Six weeks passed until the crucial evidence was finally discovered.

Marine C was interviewed on September 25, his address was searched and his journal and helmet cam were seized.

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The memory card from the camera was recovered and by October 8, six video clips had been extracted; six clips that would lead to the first murder conviction of a UK servicemen for killing an enemy on the battlefield since World War Two.

Marine C's journal also made reference to "popping one in his head". He later described his works at the "ramblings" of a "very scared and angry person".

It was only during Blackman's appeal hearing, held in February 2017, that the full details of the pressures facing Blackman and has men during their "tour from hell" in Afghanistan were revealed.

His conviction was downgraded from murder to manslaughter and he was re-sentenced to seven years in prison.

Speaking at his sentencing hearing, Blackman, who was suffering from an adjustment disorder at the time of the killing, was described as "the last casualty of a failed war".